The Foreign Service Journal - November 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2017 47 FICTION AND POETRY (Continued) Vixen Charles Ray, Uhuru Press, 2017, $15/ paperback, $5.99/Kindle, 378 pages. Eight-year-old Elizabeth Parker was captured by pirates who murdered her parents. As an adult, she’s forgotten her past and become one of the most feared pirates in the Carib- bean. She and her vessel, the Vixen , prey on American and British ships that sail those treacherous waters. Colin Worth, the son of a Boston merchant, ran away to sea and ended up in the young American navy, an executive officer aboard the frigate USS Intrepid . But after a confrontation with his tyrannical captain, he is marooned in a ship’s boat and left to die at sea. When Elizabeth and her crew find and rescue Colin, the two learn that their lives are entwined in a macabre way—they have a common enemy, Captain Beauregard Dangerfield, the demented master of the Intrepid , and a growing mutual attrac- tion. Can two people from such different worlds co-exist, or are they fated to be enemies? To find the answer to these questions, they must first survive. Ambassador Charles Ray retired from the Foreign Service in 2012 after a distinguished 30-year career (see p. 31). Patchworks B.A. East, Moonshine Cove Publishing LLC, 2017, $13.99/paperback, $6.99/Kindle, 226 pages. Gabriel Dunne’s federal internship with the Bureau of Government Intelligence and Execution has him tracking gun violence in America. But before Gabe can even start working at BOGIE, his boss, Chloe Gilchrist, tasks him with plan- ning her wedding; Juston Parker wants help seducing their fellow intern; security chief Old Hubbard hounds him about expired passwords; and the shredder guy needs saving from his own deadly machine. Meanwhile, Congress threatens a government shutdown that will send them all packing. As if all that drama weren’t enough, when one of Gabe’s col- leagues is victimized by the very violence their office exists to prevent, these ordinary bureaucrats must fight back—or become statistics themselves in America’s next mad shooting spree. B.A. East is a Foreign Service officer who has served in Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua, Ghana, Mexico and Washington, D.C. Before joining the State Department he taught English literature and composition in Malawi as a Peace Corps Volunteer and else- where. His debut novel, Two Pumps for the Body Man (New Pulp Press, 2016), has been described as “doing for American diplo- macy what Catch-22 did for military logic.” Patchworks examines the American government and gun culture in a similar light. East posts black humor on his blog: www.BenEastBooks.com . Crossings Sarah Johnson, Cedar Fort Inc., 2017, $17.99/ paperback, $7.99/Kindle, 320 pages. In a world where using a magical gift is punishable by death, Eliinka has been able to hide her deepest secret ... so far. But she has no choice but to undertake a perilous crossing to a foreign land, where she’ll dis- cover the truth about a powerful legend and the hope for peace after centuries of conflict. Her action will alter the fates of two nations and trigger events that might cause the destruction of her homeland. Set in an enchanting fantasy world, this novel is a page-turner for young adults, with compelling characters and relationships, including friendships and romance. “ Crossings is a haunting, beautiful book that never leaves you,” says Kimberly Loth, author of The Thorn Chronicles series. “Gorgeously written, its characters stay with you long after you read.” The story deals with issues of peace and conflict, and the irreconcilable differences between people and whether it is possible to get past them. It is also a story of moving to a new country and learning to adapt to a new culture. Sarah Johnson, a writer, photographer and Foreign Service spouse, now lives in Cairo after postings with her family in São Paulo, Helsinki, Reykjavik, Guangzhou, Frankfurt and Abuja. She began writing in 2005 while living in Finland, and was later accepted to the Vermont College of Fine Arts where she earned an MFA in writing for children and young adults. This is her first novel. You can follow her blog at https:// sarahblakejohnson.blogspot.com . Tangier Stephen Holgate, Blank Slate Press, 2017, $16.95/paperback, $9.99/Kindle, 377 pages. Tangier is a story of fathers and sons, the alienation of being a stranger in a strange land, the seductive face of betrayal and, finally, the lengths we’ll go to for redemption.